Foxconn’s CEO Backpedals on Robot Takeover at Factories

Foxconn Technology Group’s plan for a “robot army” won’t come as quickly as originally anticipated, according to its CEO. Any wannabe botnet operator can now create his or her own army of ZeusVM-infected computers, For years now, the iPhone manufacturer has been talking about using robots to do some of the jobs done by humans at its factories. Back in February, CEO Terry Gou said he expected the automation to account for 70% of his company’s assembly line work in three years. But on Thursday, Gou backtracked from those statements, claiming that media reports had misquoted him. “It should be that in five years, the robots will take over 30% of the manpower,” he said during the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Taipei. Read more: Computerworld